Hi everyone. Welcome back to the Daily
gospel. Exegesis podcast were all about
helping. You understand?
The Gospel reading from today's mass and we want to give you an
idea of the literal sense of the text.
What did it mean in its original context?
Why did the author to certain words?
What was Jesus getting at? When he was saying certain
things? So that's where we should start
as Catholics. And this is the only Catholic
podcast out there where every single day we're giving you the
tools to do that to understand the literal sense of scripture
now. Today, we have a really
interesting reading and it's particularly important that we
do an exegesis on it properly. Because for many people, this is
one of the hardest passages in all of the gospels.
And certainly many people would say that this is the hardest
Parable to interpret. So let's start with reading the
text, Luke. Chapter 16, verses 1 to 13.
Jesus said to his disciples, there was a rich man and he had
a steward denounced to him for being wasteful with his
property, he called for the man and said, what is this?
I hear about you draw me up an account of your stewardship
because you are not to be my Steward, any longer?
Then the steward said to himself now that my master is taking
their stewardship away from me. What am I to do dig, I'm not
strong enough, go begging. I should be too ashamed.
Ah, I know what I will do to make sure that when I am
dismissed from office, there will be some to welcome me into
their home's. Then he called his master's
debtors, one by one to the first he said, how much do you owe my
master one hundred measures of olive Oil was the reply, the
steward said here, take your bond, sit down straight away and
write fifty to another. He said, and you sir, how much
do you owe? One hundred measures of wheat
was the reply. The steward said here, take your
bond and write eighty the master praised, the dishonest Steward
for his astuteness. For the children of this world
are more astute in dealing with their own.
Kind then are the children of light.
I tell you, this use money tainted, as it is to win you
friends. And thus make sure that when it
fails you they will welcome you into the tents of Eternity.
The man who can be trusted in little things can be trusted in
great. The man who is dishonest in
little things, will be dishonest in great if then, you cannot be
trusted with money that tainted thing who will Trust you with
genuine riches and if you cannot be trusted with what is not
yours. Who will give you, what is your
very own? No servant, can be the slave of
two masters. He will either either hate the
first and love the second or treat, the First with respect.
And the second with scorn, you cannot be the slave, both of
God, and of money. So that is our text for today.
As you can see, it's a fairly complex one and it's not always
entirely clear. What, what is going on here.
The best way to understand Parables, and particularly with
this one is to think about what's the main point Jesus
wants to make. Usually, there's one particular
point, he has in mind, and we should always keep that in the
center. Otherwise we might Start to make
interpretations that aren't really.
What Jesus was trying to get a particularly if we just pick and
choose certain lines of this Parable, without keeping the
whole Parable in context, we can get a bit lost.
The best way to understand this passage today is by starting at
the bottom, by starting at verse 9.
Because as Jesus does with many of his Parables though, not all
of them. But with many of his Parables at
the end, he tells you the point. He was trying to make.
He usually says therefore this is what you should take away
from parable. And that's what he does in verse
9. So verse 9 says, I tell you this
use money tainted, as it is to win you friends.
So the overall teaching of this Parable is that we need to use
money well in order to get into eternal life, that's the meaning
of the parable. So I'll say it again, if we can
keep this in mind, it will help us with the rest of the text.
The overall teaching of the parable is that we need to as
Christians use money. Well in order to get into
eternal life. And we know that the focus here
is basically on money because G, Luke goes on to tell us straight
after this, that the Pharisees are lovers of money.
So in this section, Jesus is going to do various Parables
that have to do with using money.
Well, and this is one of them. Let's go back to verse 1.
So Jesus said to his disciples. So the audience here is probably
those who already understand some things about the kingdom.
Jesus is now going to tell the parable of the dishonest Steward
as From cold. He says there was a rich man who
had a steward. So there's the rich man's like,
the owner and he has a steward who managed his master's estate?
And he was denounced to him for being wasteful with his property
or more. Literally, you can translate
that as charge was were brought to him that this man was wasting
his Goods. So it appears the steward is not
making good use of the Masters money and estate.
He's wasting his master's good much like a prodigal son.
Remember he gets his father's inheritance and then he wastes
it that was in the previous chapter.
Verse 2, he called for the man and said, what is this?
I hear about you draw me up an account of your stewardship.
Or more, literally their turn in the account of your stewardship.
Basically, the master here says, hand over your badge, that's the
equivalent of what he's saying. He's saying you're done, give me
your rights, give me your paperwork because you're
finished, you're not working for me anymore.
And that's what he says because you are no longer to be my
Steward verse 3. Then the steward said to himself
now that my master is taking the stewardship from me.
What am I to do dig, I'm not strong enough, go begging.
I Be too ashamed. So the servant here the steward
is he knows he needs to find a new way to make money.
He doesn't think he's going to be strong enough to work in
construction and Deke. So he says, that's not an
option, but he also doesn't want to be a bigger either because in
that culture was shameful to be a bigger that is true.
So he decides to come up with another plan here and as we'll
see, here is a fairly sort of selfish, although very clever
Steward in terms of his plan. So he comes up with a plan B in
case he can't get a job. Job verse 4.
Ah, I know which I will do to make sure that when I'm
dismissed from office, there will be someone to welcome me
into their home. So he decides that he might not
be able to get another job and he comes up with a back-up plan
to make sure that there'll be other people in his life, who
will welcome him into his home into their homes and support
him. This is his plan.
He's going to use his financial skills to make some friends who
will welcome him into their home and support him if required.
So, he starts his plan verse five.
He called his master's debtors, one by one.
So he's calling all the people who are either Master money,
basically, to the He said how much do you owe my master one
hundred measures of oil was the reply that's a fair bit of money
that appears to be a fair bit of oil.
I should say that it's appears to be around 800 gallons that
this debtor owes the master 800 gallons of oil, but the Stewart
says to him in verse 6 here, take your bond or you can
translate that take your bill. Basically that means get out
your paperwork where this is written down.
That's what he says to the debtor.
Get out your paperwork now. Sit down the away and write
fifty. So he did owe a hundred measures
of oil but now the steward says cross that out and write 50
instead, he reduces the debt of the man.
He tells the man, the debt to the master has been reduced from
a hundred measures of oil, 250, which is a significant
reduction. Notice, he tells him to do a
quickly sit down straight away and do it because he doesn't
want the master to find out what he's doing.
Now, the debtor believes that the steward still works for the
master and the steward. Have that authority to go and
reduce the dipped in the way that he's doing it.
So, from the debtors perspective, he thinks that the
he doesn't realize that the steward is lying.
He thinks that he's literally working on behalf of the master
to reduce his debt. So he thinks the Stewart, has
done him a great favor by reducing the debt.
So of course, the debtor is going to be very grateful to the
steward. This is what makes this Steward
dishonest. Remember the parable is often
called the unrighteous Steward or sometimes dishonest Stewart,
he's a liar. He went to the debtors and he
lied. Claiming that his master was
reducing the debt, but in fact, he's not reducing the debt.
That's what makes him dishonest. This is the stewards plan.
He's going to make people like him and hopefully they will give
him a place to go now that he's unemployed.
And his plan seems to work pretty well, because in verse 7,
he goes to another one. Another debtor and says sir, how
much D art, one hundred measures of wheat was the reply.
So there will be about 1,000 bushels of wheat, which is a
fair amount. And the steward says here, take
your bond and write 80. So he reduces it from a hundred
measures of wheat. 280 measures of wheat.
Now here we have here listed to debtors that he does this for
probably he did it for several of them.
Now at some point the master he is what the Stewart is doing.
He hears that the steward has been going around reducing
everyone's debts even Though, the steward doesn't work for him
anymore. So the master is probably fairly
angry, but that's not the initial response that the master
give. So, in verse 8, it says the
master praised, the dishonest Steward for his astuteness.
This is one of the weirdest phrases in the parable, the
master praised, the dishonest Steward for his astuteness.
Another translation of a student us is prudence The master,
although the master he's probably annoyed at his servant
the the steward for reducing the debts, he probably is annoyed
but he's also impressed, he's impressed with how clever or how
prudent the Stewart has been. The Stewart has made quite a
smart plan for his future using money.
That's why the master can commends the steward.
He's not commended for being dishonest is not commended
because of his specific actions that he did or his or his lying.
He's commended for his Prudence in making a plan for his future,
that's what he's commended for. Let's keep that in mind.
And then Jesus says this. So that's basically the end of
the parable. And Jesus now says this for the
children of this world, now you can translate that as the sons
of this age. That basically means worldly
people who are not part of the Kingdom.
So, everyday, worldly people. The children of this world are
more astute in dealing with their own kind or more prudent.
You can translate that some translations have this as our.
Why is it in their own generation?
So world, this is Jesus teaching here, worldly people.
More clever about worldly Affairs.
Then are the children of light says, Jesus.
It's an interesting phrase, the children of light, this might
sort of Jesus here, might be influenced by particularly the
essence at qumran. The essence often talked about
the righteous people being children of light.
It's an interesting phrase so it's a label here that Jesus
gives for Christians. Those in the Kingdom, the
children of light. So the teaching here is the
children of this world, a more prudent in dealing with their
own, kind than are the children of light Jesus, who is teaching
that Christians those in the kingdom are not as smart about
how they use in invest their money as our worldly people in
the time of Jesus. Now, that might seem a bit
offensive. Why would Jesus say that?
But he's probably, right? That makes sense.
Because Christians those in the kingdom are supposed to be
somewhat detached from money. So it makes sense that those who
are not Christians Probably wiser and smarter about using
money, then Christians are they're more interested in
worldly Affairs than Christians are still.
Jesus is teaching his followers, that there is a place for using
money. Well, that's the teaching here,
there is a good use for money. In fact, in Matthew chapter 10,
verse 16, Jesus says, to his disciples be prudent as serpents
and simple as doves. So there are a couple of places
in the gospels where Jesus says be prudent, and this is one of
them he says use money. Well, Well, he gets even more
specific here. So, verse 9 and I tell you, so
we should pay attention here. This is the meaning that Jesus
wants his disciples to take away from the parable.
I tell you use money tainted as it is.
Now some translations have this as unrighteous Mammon but I
think the the lectionary today makes this a bit clearer use
money tainted as it is. So Jesus, he says money is not
perfect, but it is useful. Mammon is just an Aramaic word.
That means wealth, right? Jesus he says use money tainted,
as it is to win you friends and thus make sure that when it
fails you they will welcome you into the tents of Eternity, or
you can translate that as they may receive you into the Eternal
habitations. So, just as the man in this
Parable, the unrighteous Steward made friends so that they
welcomed him into their home's. Jesus, he says, be like him,
make friends in quotation marks so that when you no longer have
money, when you die, you'll be Be welcomed into the tents of
Eternity. So Jesus here teaches that his
disciples that if they use their money well and particularly what
he probably means here is giving money away to the poor that's
probably the primary use of money.
He's thinking of if they make good use of their money, they
can form good relationships and produce more servants.
For the kingdom, they can bring about the salvation of their own
souls. He says that elsewhere in Luke
giving away money to the poor brings about salvation and also
they can make friends and Chips and networks, and probably bring
about the salvation of others for the kingdom.
Jesus. He says that, if these people
that they give the way the money to, or that they befriend using
their money, if these people that they befriend die before
them. Well, then those people will be
there to welcome them into eternal life.
It's quite a beautiful image, isn't it?
You can sort of Imagine giving money to a poor person and that
poor person welcome you into heaven after you die.
Now this of course matches well with what Jesus has taught in
previous chapters of Luke, remember in the sections just
before this, Jesus said you need to give up all your possessions
in order to be my disciple. He actually said that and of
course that's an extension of Jews has orange Jubilee program.
If you look at chapter 7, in particular, verses 41, to 42.
We have these themes of giving away money and then also in
chapter 12, Jesus says store up treasure in heaven in 12:33.
So all the way. Look, this is theme of using
money, well, focusing on Heaven, rather than just Earthly money.
Interestingly he the Greek word for dwellings or habitations
that they may welcome you into Eternal habitations.
It's the same word that's used to describe the Tabernacles.
In the wilderness. Remember how they dwelt in tents
in the wilderness? So this has become a common
Jewish image for the kingdom of God, when God will dwell among
his people. They actually sort of, saw it as
like, living in many houses in the Kingdom where God will be in
the midst of the people just as he was in the wilderness
wanderings. So, it's an interesting Parable,
isn't it? Might seem strange that Jesus
needs to teach about money, but we should keep in mind that
probably one of the reasons for the teaching is, he's doing it
to contrast with this selfish attitude towards money that the
Pharisees have. So, Jesus main point is that
Christians, those in the Kingdom need to use money.
Well, not selfishly in order to get into eternal life and
primarily for a king people in the Kingdom, that means giving
their money away, although not exclusively that, but certainly,
it does involve Jesus teaching, is that those in the Kingdom,
need to use their lives and resources as well in order to be
prepared for eternal life. They need to be prudent and
generous in their use of money. If they want to be prepared for
eternal life, this interpretation makes sense.
Given the other parables in this same section of Luke, the very
next Parable that Jesus gives very shortly after this is the
parable of the rich man and Lazarus.
And of course, the point of that Parable is if you just keep all
your rich, Money for yourself and you don't give it away.
You're not going to get into heaven and Luke actually says,
in that section of the rich, man and Lazarus, the Pharisees were
lovers of money, so we can keep that in mind that he's at this
point in his ministry. Jesus is particularly, thinking
of Pharisees who are a bit obsessed with money.
It helps us interpret that this Parable is about the proper use
of money. Now, even given that exegesis,
and I think that's a fairly solid exegesis.
I think we're pretty close to the meaning here.
There's still some aspects of the Our bullet might seem a bit
mysterious. For example, you might still be
scratching your head thinking why has Jesus picked a liar and
unrighteous Steward? As someone for his disciples to
model in terms of the way they use money, it seems like a very
strange choice for Jesus to use in the parable.
Because certainly, he doesn't want his followers to be Liars.
That can't be right? So, one thing to keep in mind
here, when interpreting Parables, usually there's one
similarity between the figure in the power.
Evil, one main similarity that Jesus wants his disciples to
emulate one personality characteristic.
He doesn't want them to be like the person in every single way.
In this case, he wants his disciples to be prudent.
Like, the unrighteous Stewart is not them to be Liars.
Like the unrighteous Stuart is. So why has Jesus picked the
unrighteous Stewart as an example in this?
Parable, there's two possible reasons.
Maybe he wanted to use a striking example that would help
make the point of use money. Prudently, And if you do, it can
affect your state of life in the future.
Maybe Jesus felt this was the most striking example, he could
use to get that point across and certainly it would have been
quite memorable for them. Some Scholars.
Think the Jesus here might also be making an argument from the
Lesser to the greater. He does this sometimes, so maybe
he's saying something like this. If an unrighteous Steward can
use his money. Well, then certainly a righteous
follower of Christ can, as well. The unrighteous Steward prepared
for his future and Christians should take even greater care to
prepare for their eternal life. And that sort of reasoning makes
sense as well. We get to verse 10 today and
Jesus says the man who can be trusted in little things can be
trusted in great. Another translation has it as
he, who is faithful in a very little, is faithful also in
much. So now there's a shift from
being prudent with money to being faithful, there's sort of
a slight shift here to being faithful or trustworthy.
The principle that Jesus lays out here the man who can be
trusted in little things can be trusted in great.
This is a general spiritual principle of the moral life and
of the spiritual life, those who cooperate with the grace that
God gives them will be given more.
And we believe that as Catholics, we have to cooperate
with God but in this case specifically on the literal
level, Jesus is specifically. Into using money, though, symbol
who can be trusted in little things as in those who can use
money? Well, for the kingdom can be
trusted in great, those who handle money, well, will be
given an even greater rewards in heaven.
So the idea here is use your resources well, on Earth for the
purposes of the kingdom and you'll receive a reward in
heaven. That's the teaching here and
then Jesus flips. It around the man who is
dishonest in little things, will be dishonest in great.
So on the other hand, those who can't handle money.
Well in this life and use it selfishly, they can't be trusted
with their Eternal Rewards. This possibly a would play going
on here because the word Mammon, which is what a lot of
translations use for money. The word Mammon derives from a
Hebrew word, meaning that in which one trusts, and here,
Jesus is talking about being trustworthy with your money.
So he might actually be doing a word play here in the original
Aramaic that he's speaking verse 11, if then you cannot be
trusted with money that tainted thing who will trust you with
genuine riches so Jesus here again, says money.
It's not perfect, but it can be useful.
He says, if you can't be trusted with the way you use money,
who's going to trust you with genuine riches, if we can't
share our money, if we can't use it wisely for the kingdom with,
we're not generous with it then we cannot be trusted with
eternal rewards either. That's Jesus teaching it to his
disciples. It's challenging for us, even
particularly today in our 21st century Society, where we have a
bit of an obsession with money, Jesus, he says, if you can't use
your money, well, For the kingdom, you can't be trusted
with eternal rewards in heaven. So the encouragement Jesus is
giving his disciples is for them to plan for their own future.
Just as the steward in the parable, did we have to be
generous with our money? Not be slaves of it if we want
to enter eternal life, that's the teaching.
Verse 12. And if you cannot be trusted
with what is not yours. Who will give you, what is your
very own? This is an interesting teaching,
isn't it here? Jesus teaches that what is
money, is not ours that actually belongs to.
God, ultimately all resources were given in this life, come
from God. But on the other hand, there is
something which is our own waiting for us in heaven.
There's a personal inheritance waiting just for us in heaven.
That's quite a beautiful profound teaching, isn't it?
God wants to give us something, which is truly are And that is
the reward in heaven, but the teaching is that we if we want
to get that personal reward in heaven, we have to use money.
Well, in this life we have to use our resources.
Well, if we can't use money, well, which does not really
belong to us. Anyway, then God won't give us
the reward, Which is far greater and more significant in heaven.
Verse 13. No servant can be the slave of
two masters, or you can translate that is, no servant
can serve two masters slave and servant those two words are
basically the same in Greek. No servant.
Can be the slave of two masters. You probably heard this teaching
quite a few times. So, what's going on here?
Jesus knows that to really serve a master requires total,
exclusive commitment, having two masters is going to divide one's
loyalties. And in the end, he's going
Preferring one master over another.
Jesus knows that man has a tendency a psychological
tendency or a spiritual tendency to end up serving something in
this life. It can be God or it can be
something else. Jesus seems to know that we have
a tendency to serve things, but he also knows that serving God
requires undivided attention. So he says, no servant can be
the slave of two masters. He will either hate the first
and love the second or treat. The First with respect, and the
second with score. On or you can translate that
last bit as he will be devoted to the one and despise the
other. The first thing to say here is
hate when he says he will hate the first and love the second.
It doesn't mean emotional hatred.
He doesn't mean that. If you try to serve two masters,
you're going to end up literally, emotionally hating
the other one. That's not the teaching here.
Love means to prefer something over another.
So to hate is to prefer something less the teaching
here. Then when he says you will
either hate the first and love, the second is man cannot equally
prefer to Ultimate things in life.
We can't. Ultimately have to Masters, it's
not going to work, it's not psychologically, possible, his
man, if he tries to have two masters is going to end up
prioritizing, one over the other eventually, it will play out
that way and Jesus, he really brings it home by saying, you
cannot be the slave of both God and money or you cannot serve,
both God and Mammon. Jesus.
He perceives that for men, money can become a master money is
something that has a tendency to suck people in, and it makes
people have their lives revolve around money rather than God.
There's something about money that has a tendency to make
people revolve their lives around it.
So it can become a master for people, we can become enslaved
to our wealth and belongings. And I think we need to hear this
a fresh because this probably speaks to us.
Us. We can end up being constantly
worried about maintaining them or seeking to acquire more.
This is probably speaking to many of you listening to this
podcast today. And Jesus here has words for us
if we end up sort of saying we follow God.
But ultimately what we're really working towards in our life is
money and we structure our days in our lives about maintaining
money getting more money than ultimately money is our Master.
That's what Jesus is saying here.
And Jesus has a warning here. He says to those who believe
that they can serve both God and money and probably that's what
the Pharisees thought. Jesus tells them that they're
wrong. You cannot serve, both God and
money. Even if you think you can, you
can't, you're going to end up referring one over the other.
And Jesus wants his followers to prefer God, he doesn't want his
followers to become slaves to money like the Pharisees had.
So from here, there is a little bit more to this particular
story. When we get to hear the
Pharisees reaction to what Jesus has just said, that's not in
today's reading though. So if you want to hear how the
Pharisees react to this, you can hear it on Saturday of week, 31
in ordinary time. So, we'll finish the today with
just two paragraphs from the catechism, and these are fairly
direct paragraphs about Christians, use of money.
So, paragraph, nine five, two, They had everything in common
everything. The true Christian has is to be
regarded as a good possessed in common with everyone else.
All Christians should be ready and eager to come to the help of
the needy and of their neighbors in want.
A Christian is a steward of the Lord's goods and that last line
there. A Christian is a steward of the
Lord's Goods directly references, what we've seen
here. The parable of the unrighteous
Steward that's kind of the point.
Jesus is making a Christian is a steward.
Of money, and I need to make sure that use it.
Well, if they want to inherit eternal life paragraph 2, for 2,
for this is in the section about the social doctrine of the
church. A theory that makes profit, the
exclusive Norman ultimate end of economic.
Activity is morally unacceptable, the disordered
desire for money cannot but produce perverse effects.
It is one of the causes of the many conflicts, which disturb
the social order. So some fairly strong language
there about particular economic systems and I'll include both of
those paragraphs in the show notes.
Thanks for your support of the ministry.
I hope you've learned something new.
This is a difficult passage, but I hope that today's exegesis has
helped you understand what Jesus was trying to get up?
If you think there's others in your life, who would benefit
from hearing this podcast, please share it with them and
will continue to look at the gospels in the coming days.